We’re less than a day from the scheduled launch of the Mars Perseverance Rover and all systems and the weather are a go for launch! The launch window opens up at 7:50 a.m. EDT and you watch all the activity on SpaceQ.

Tomorrow a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket will launch NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover on a seven-month journey to the Red Planet. After landing in Jezero Crate in February 2021, the robotic astrobiologist and scientist will search for signs that microbes might have lived on Mars long ago, collect soil samples to be returned to Earth on a future mission and pave the way for human exploration beyond the Moon. Perseverance will be accompanied by a helicopter called Ingenuity, the first attempt at powered flight on another world.

Leading up to the launch NASA held several briefings. They are available below.

What’s the status of the rover launch to Mars?